


A Lesson in Paying Attention

by txilar



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 09:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/txilar/pseuds/txilar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi can't sleep. He can't make Iruka feel better either. But Iruka can help him sleep. So he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lesson in Paying Attention

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://kakairu-fest.livejournal.com/profile)[**kakairu_fest**](http://kakairu-fest.livejournal.com/)'s [Bingo Round](http://kakairu-fest.livejournal.com/105715.html): Team Hurt/Comfort. Our card theme is blood. Bingo Square: Insomnia  
> 

A tall figure in hospital blacks wandered in. Iruka blinked sleepily against the drugs in his system designed to keep him still.

"You're not a nurse," he slurred. "Oh." He saw the shock of pale hair. "Kakashi. What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"You're so zen, copy-nin," Iruka said, then giggled when he realised what he'd said out loud. He sobered when he remembered he wasn't supposed to move. But really he couldn't. His giggle wasn't much more than a dumb sound and a bit of slobber. "I'm on drugs," he explained. "Have to stay still. Lost blood. Not a lot, but. Well, a lot. And my arms are, well still here. Barely. I think. I hope."

Kakashi nodded somberly. He was wearing a mask. Not his regular mask, or a ninja mask, but a hospital doctor's mask.

"Why are you here again?" Iruka was starting to wonder if he really was.

"Who says I am?"

Iruka tried to laugh again but it came out as another dumb sounding wail.

"You should go on more missions, sensei. You were too slow."

"How do you know I--hey, is that my mission report?" Iruka felt dizzy as endorphins rushed in and fought with the drugs. "You get off, get out, stop reading that! That is privileged--private--classif-- _top secret_ data!"

"Mmm." Kakashi kept reading, flipping over pages as if Iruka had no spoken. He nodded and pointed at something on the page, tapping as if he'd discovered something that proved his point. "Too slow."

Iruka wasn't supposed to sit up. He couldn't, actually, but he struggled to raise up to see Kakashi better. How dare he? "We were _ambushed_ and--"

"That's no excuse for ill preparation." Kakashi's mild 'I'm right and you're wrong' tone was infuriating. And Iruka was way too high to be infuriated.

A machine beeped. His heart was thumping so loud he could hear it and feel it and how dare that smug--

"It's not an excuse. It was an _ambush_. By its dery vefin--fery fef--it's something you aren't prepared for!" Iruka felt hoarse. That's right. He wasn't supposed to be talking either. "Fast or slow, an ambush is an--"

"Umino Iruka. Silence!" A nurse, flanked by two serious looking orderlies pointed at Kakashi. "You, out! This is a hospital. What are you thinking?"

Kakashi shrugged. "This is a lesson in paying attention. Best wishes, sensei." He spread his hands gently toward the orderlies. Iruka wasn't sure if it was to assure them he wouldn't fight them--or to caution them that he _would_.

"Next time, be faster."

Iruka growled, but he faded to black under the tsking of the night nurse.

 

 

Iruka couldn't say he was delighted. One did not delight in the wounding of a fellow ninja. "I heard you faint at the sight of blood."

"Just my own. It would be inconvenient otherwise."

"Mm." Iruka nodded noncommittally and looked over the mission report he'd brought with him.

"Are those no longer top secret?" Kakashi asked. His head tilted to one side and he sounded genuinely curious.

Iruka shrugged and kept reading. "Ambush, huh?"

"I suppose you are here to lecture me?" Kakashi managed to sound imperious, but not as if he really meant it.

"Oh I would never. That would be crass. Are you just getting old, is that why you move so slow?" Iruka settled into a chair across from the hospital bed. Kakashi glared. Actually glared. He only wore the hospital mask, so Iruka had a nice direct view, unimpeded by drugs or hampered by being in a hospital bed himself.

It wasn't a potent glare. It was charming. Iruka grinned.

"You aren't old, Kakashi-san. I jest. Of course. The nurse said you'd be fine." Iruka paused as he continued looking over the report. "It appears--"

"I'd rather you didn't say."

Iruka looked up, still smiling. Kakashi was no longer glaring, but he was very, very still.

He was unable to look away, and felt his smile fade as they looked at each other. "I thought it was 'just an ambush,'" Iruka said quietly and not nearly as carelessly as he'd been before. "This isn't your report. Those really are classified. I mean, for most--people." Iruka could feel himself babbling and squirming under Kakashi's intense gaze.

"I should go." Iruka stood and bowed politely. "It was a poor joke on my part and--"

"No, you can stay. You're comforting. Just don't talk." He nodded at Iruka's still bandaged arm. "Or bleed."

Iruka cleared his throat. "Okay, I--" He broke off, nodding, and sat.

Kakashi watched him for a moment then tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. Iruka couldn't tell if his eye was open or if he was taking a nap. "I couldn't sleep. I never can in hospital. You really should go on more missions. It is the only way to be prepared for an ambush. Expect them every time."

"But then it's--right." Kakashi's gaze swept back to the ceiling.

"Your presence is soothing, sensei. I'm going to nap. Don't leave."

Within two minutes the machine's readout updated to reflect Kakashi's vitals. Iruka wasn't sure how long he was supposed to stay. Was Kakashi really asleep? Was the mission that problematic? The soft patter of footsteps grabbed his attention. He looked up to see three medics in the doorway. They looked surprised. One waved him over.

Iruka looked at Kakashi and back at them and shook his head. He pointed at Kakashi. The tallest medic tiptoed in, her gaze on Kakashi the entire time.

"He sleeping? How long? Why? Coherent? Stable?" Iruka nodded to everything but 'why' because he didn't know the answer to the one, so he shrugged.

"You close?"

He shook his head at that one. Quickly and firmly so she couldn't get it wrong. She looked up and shook her head twice, tapped her wrist and nodded to the other medics. They sighed and melted away.

"He won't stay in psych, sensei, but he can't be released. That is, until he sleeps. Will you escort him home this afternoon?"

"Me?" Iruka pointed to himself, he actually pointed to his own chest.

The medic understood. She smiled, nodded and took his finger, tapping his chest twice. "Yes, you. He trusts you."

"No one doesn't. He thinks I'm slow."

"He's sleeping. This man doesn't sleep. A nurse will bring you paperwork in an hour. Just get him home, make sure he sleeps six hours, has a decent breakfast, protein, complex carbs, and you're off the hook."

Iruka nodded though he was slightly dazed.

"Until next time."

Iruka looked back at Kakashi. His body did seem very relaxed. Iruka had never realised the tension in Kakashi until he saw him without it. Even his hands looked relaxed. They'd fallen loose from where he'd laced them over his abdomen.

He had nice hands. Even from his seat against the wall, Iruka could see scars, tiny and small, worn callouses, and great strength in Kakashi's hands. Great power.

Caring for that power was the least Iruka could do.


End file.
